


Broken things

by ginnyred



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Presents, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Canon, Spoilers, the sweater
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24307084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ginnyred/pseuds/ginnyred
Summary: "You know the sweater?"Marti cracks one eye open at that. Nico is staring up at him expectantly, his chin digging in Marti's stomach, but having him this close feels nice, so he won't complain."You're still thinking about it?"
Relationships: Niccolò Fares/Martino Rametta
Comments: 26
Kudos: 118





	Broken things

**Author's Note:**

> Not a fix-it fic. In fact, I made it worse.
> 
> Written for skamitaliafandomevents on Tumblr. The theme was Marti's birthday.

"You know the sweater?"

Marti cracks one eye open at that. Nico is staring up at him expectantly, his chin digging in Marti's stomach, but having him this close feels nice, so he won't complain.

"You're still thinking about it?"

"Yeah..." Nico drags the word out for too long, so Marti is sure something big is coming. He settles against the pillows and looks at Nico curiously.

Nico hesitates.

"You know how I promised I'd tell you everything, right?"

Marti sighs.

"Can I be honest?"

"I should hope so."

"You're scaring me."

Weirdly enough, Nico smiles at that.

"Oh, so you want the truth but you're scared of it?"

"Fuck you." He mock-slaps the side of Nico's head, but Nico closes his eyes and leans in, so Marti indulges him and starts stroking his hair. He doesn't even mind that it's sticky and sweaty and gross.

When Nico speaks again, he still has his eyes closed.

"It's mine."

"What?"

"The sweater." Nico opens his eyes and looks at him for so long Marti feels weirdly exposed. "It's mine."

Marti frowns at that.

"But it had a tag."

"It still had it, yeah. I could never..." A pause. Nico lowers his gaze. "Bring myself to wear it."

Realisation hits Marti suddenly, unexpectedly. The truth is so plain and obvious he can only whisper it.

"He bought it for you."

"Yeah." Nico shakes his head. "He said- He said, you know, I should learn to dress nice if I wanted to meet his parents?" He laughs but it sounds weirdly hollow. It makes Marti's stomach twist unpleasantly. "Of course I was never going to meet his parents. But it was nice to dream. At times."

"Okay." Marti takes a deep breath. He asked for this, he did. He doesn't get to hide now, even though God knows he'd like to. "And you kept it. When he... he got sent away? And when you changed schools. You kept it."

Nico nods, a weird intensity in his eyes.

"I mean, I almost got convinced that what we had was because, you know..." He shrugs, but it looks deliberate. "I was ill."

Marti nods.

"That's what Maddi said to me. In Milan."

"Yeah... That was probably easier to deal with for everyone involved." Nico sighs. "But the sweater. It told a different story, I don't know. So I kept it as, like, a reminder."

"A reminder of him?" It hurts just to say it, but Marti does anyway. Nico is looking at him attentively and Marti doesn't think he can hide how painful this is.

Nico knows. Marti knows he does. He watches him lean down slowly and kiss his stomach, without ever breaking eye contact. It's ridiculous how that almost brings Marti to tears.

"A reminder of me, with him," Nico says finally. "A reminder I can be trusted, that I can trust my heart, even if my head sometimes... you know."

"And you don't... need that anymore?" Marti asks. It sounds weak and embarrassingly weepy.

"I know what I feel is real now. I could never doubt it." Nico smiles up at him. It looks kind and a bit sad. "But I want to keep it, I don't want to forget... how hard it used to be."

"But you gave it to me," Marti insists, confused. "Why did you give it to me?"

"I want to keep it," Nico repeats. His tone gets softer now. "Always."

... _oh._

It's nothing like romantic moments in films.

Marti is almost paralysed for a moment. Then he sniffles, kind of pathetically, and rubs his eyes with his knuckles, the warmth spreading from his chest fighting with the awkwardness of having nowhere to hide.

Nico's smile turns lopsided, like he knows Marti is a mess right now – not that it's hard to tell.

Marti can't do this.

"I mean, nice try, but it's still a regift, you know?" he mumbles awkwardly. "From your _ex._ "

Nico laughs.

"But it worked, didn't it?"

"Fuck you." A playful shove on Nico's shoulder. Marti keeps his hand there and it turns into half a hug. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I wasn't sure... I mean, it can be misinterpreted easily?" Nico offers tentatively. "And I'm telling you now, aren't I?"

"If you wrote me a letter and mailed it I would have got it sooner."

It's getting harder to keep up the indignant tone, though.

Nico giggles and pushes himself up on his arms so he can lean in for a kiss. Marti allows him one, then bites his lower lip, hard.

" _Ouch._ " Nico snorts a laugh. "What's that for?"

Marti kisses him again, grabbing the back of his neck this time. Holding on to him, a bit desperate.

"Nothing. I'm mad."

"Again?" Nico laughs: he can barely get the words out between kisses, Marti won't let him breathe. "At what?"

"I don't know." A kiss. "At you. At me." Another kiss. "At me leaving you."

Nico pulls back.

It's gentle and Marti doesn't try to fight it. Nico pushes him back against the pillows by the shoulders and he goes willingly. They just look at each other for a long moment.

"You know, sometimes... broken things aren't so bad." Nico reaches out and caresses Marti's nose with care. It's been healed for a while now, but Marti leans into the soft touch anyway. "You know kintsugi?"

"No." Marti bites his lip, trying not to smile. "Is he from Dragonball?"

Nico snorts a laugh, shaking his head.

"Moron," he says. He boops Marti's nose and Marti scrunches it up but doesn't move away. "It's something they do in Japan: they fix broken things with gold? So the cracks make the objects more valuable, instead of less."

It's the most Nico thing to say.

Deep, a bit pretentious. Completely unexpected.

Marti smiles, shaking his head affectionately, and he knows Nico understands. They lean in to kiss again, unhurried this time.

There are so many things Marti wants to say.

 _I love you_ is up there on the list, even though he's said it many times since they got back together. _Sorry_ too. And _I'm an idiot_ and _you're an idiot._ And _I've missed you so much I felt like I couldn't breathe._

In the end, when they part, foreheads touching, eyes smiling, there is only one thing he manages to get out.

"Fixed with gold," he whispers against Nico's lips. He watches Nico mirror the loving, fond smile Marti is sure is on his face too. "Sounds like us."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading <3


End file.
